Home care firm recruiting refugees is keen to 'help' after Russia invades Ukraine

British home care firm Cera which pledged to train and hire 500 Afghan refugees in the UK when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan last year, has said it is eager to try to help the people of Ukraine, following Russia’s invasion.

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its sixth day on 1 March, satellite photos in space revealed a convoy of Russian armoured vehicles, tanks and artillery, reported to be 40 miles long and up to three vehicles wide, closing in on Ukraine's capital Kyiv.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion triggered to date (1 March) over 400,000 people (mostly women and children) to flee their homes in Ukraine to cross the border into Poland.

With a giant wave of refugees heading from Ukraine to other countries, home care firm Cera is watching the Ukrainian crisis and “working internally to establish how we might be able to help”.

A spokeswoman for Cera told homecare.co.uk: “We are continuing to work towards our ambitions to recruit, train and hire 500 Afghan refugees over the next five years as announced in August 2021.

“We are also working internally to establish how we might be able to help with the crisis unfolding in Ukraine and its neighbouring countries.”

Cera set its sights on training 500 escaping Afghan refugees as care workers in the wake of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan last August.

As the US military-led evacuations battled to get people out of Afghanistan before President Biden’s 31 August deadline, Cera's chief executive promised to work with British councils and the government to give hundreds of Afghans a care job in the UK.

Major workforce issues in the care sector remain and have been highlighted by Skills for Care which has stated around 112,000 job vacancies exist in social care at any one time.

With the assistance of smart technology, Cera carries out tens of thousands of home care visits to people’s homes every day to help individuals with daily tasks such as washing and dressing.

Cera tracks and monitor the health of people receiving care at home, enabling their families and professionals to see changes in their health and well-being and avoid unnecessary hospital visits.

Ben Maruthappu, Cera co-founder and chief executive of the UK-wide home care firm said at the time of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan back in August 2021: “If we can play even a small role in helping those arriving from Afghanistan, that’s an opportunity we’re keen to grasp with both hands.”

Meanwhile, UK charities are doing their bit to provide assistance to the people of Ukraine. The British Red Cross has launched a Ukraine Crisis Appeal to support the work of the Ukrainian Red Cross to fund food, water, first aid, medicines, warm clothes and shelter.